Read Novel Full Chapter 7559 Asking For Ideas
Chapter 7559 Asking For Ideas
The combined fleet could no longer proceed at its previous pace.
The revelation that their enemies possessed accurate ultra-long-ranged striking capabilities made all of the soldiers feel as if they had stuck their heads under a guillotine!
As long as that superdimensional siege weapon opened fire, the guillotine could swing down the necks of some of them at any time!
Nobody wanted to remain exposed to such a devastating weapon for so long!
The Saint Commander did not take long to issue the necessary orders.
"SPEED UP AND SPREAD OUT. DO NOT LINE UP AND GIVE THE ENEMY SIEGE CANNONS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CRIPPLE MULTIPLE SHIPS WITH A SINGLE STRIKE. DO NOT WAIT FOR MY ORDERS BEFORE OPENING FIRE. AT LEAST THREE OUT OF FOUR OF THE ENEMY ORBITAL FORTRESSES MUST GO DOWN IF WE WANT TO ELIMINATE THIS THREAT HANGING OVER OUR HEADS."
If the assumption that every orbital fortress possessed a similar superdimensional siege cannon, then it was not strictly necessary to eradicate all of these large facilities.
Just getting rid of 2 or just to be certain 3 of them was enough to make the combined fleet more secure.
After all, the remaining operational siege cannon could hardly drill through the mass of an entire planet to strike at another orbiting target!
Everyone tried to execute their new orders as best as possible.
Many vessels did not hesitate to move close or at the limits of their sub-light propulsion systems.
The smaller hulls still had a bit of thrust to spare. They could still accelerate at a higher rate, but doing so would just cause them to separate from the bigger ships and ultimately lose the protection granted by the defensive spell array and Casella's Command Field.
The necessity of staying within the range of those protective energy fields heavily constrained how much the human units could disperse from each other.
Ultimately, the combined fleet could only go as fast as its slowest asset, which happened to be the Tortuous Scream.
This ship appeared far too much out of place compared to the sleeker, faster and more maneuverable hulls.
Not only was the Tortuous Scream originally an orven capital homeship, but her relatively large bulk significantly dragged down her acceleration rate!
Her maneuverability was also awful. All of that hull plating and structural components heavily inflated her mass, making it that much harder for her large thrusters to push her forward in space.
Ves feared what might happen to the Tortuous Scream.
The Larkinson Clan only considered her to be a stopgap solution, but she was still crewed by tens of thousands of clansmen!
So many Larkinsons and their cats had chosen to work and live on her exotic alien hull that a direct hit could lead to a devastating loss of life!
Ves could still stomach the loss of a powerful naval warfare platform. It would hurt a lot to lose the firepower of so many reliable bunker mechs, but the Omega Threshers still possessed the capability to fight and maneuver in space.
"Casella." Blinky communicated to the Saint Commander. "The Tortuous Scream."
"Already taken care of." Casella quickly responded.
The First Sword Mark III abruptly turned around and moved in front of the enormous vertical hull of the converted alien battleship!
The ace mech appeared proportionately tiny in relation to the formidable bulk of this capital ship.
The installation of many bunkers during her initial refit process had allowed many bunker mechs to contribute to her defense.
Yet none of their offensive power and maneuverability could match that of a single genuine ace mech!
While the First Sword Mark III unsheathed her Decapitator and held her weapon at the ready, few people were willing to believe the ace swordsman mech could block subsequent attacks.
It couldn't be helped!
A strike could come suddenly and at any time. Who knew if two or three siege cannons had already locked onto the Tortuous Scream's hull.
Even the fact that the Minerva Mark II had docked inside of her bridge and command center did not bestow her exterior with a particularly potent defensive boost.
This was why the Saint Commander had little choice but to reassign one of the top assets under her command.
The First Sword Mark III was supposed to be a formidable offensive threat. Casella had drafted half-a-dozen plans centered around this ace swordsman mech alone!
It pained Casella to take the First Sword Mark III away from the frontlines in order to assist in the defense of a highly vulnerable capital ship.
However, she did not think she made the wrong decision. It was impossible to try and preserve every ship, so she focused on the vessels that absolutely needed to be preserved.
The importance of the Tortuous Scream went without saying.
The Tarrasque also needed to be protected.
The RA heavy cruiser hosted Gloriana, her children and the core Design Department of the Larkinsons!
It was too late to transfer these VIPs to other hulls.
In fact, even if it was still possible to do so, Casella did not think it was wise to move these critical Larkinsons away.
Other vessels were either smaller and more fragile or bigger and much less maneuverable.
The Tarrasque happened to hit a sweet spot. She possessed enough bulk to withstand at least a handful of siege cannon attacks, but also possessed enough maneuverability to evade incoming attacks as long as there was enough time.
Still, in order to lower the chance that the enemy aliens might target her hull next, Casella deliberately shifted her positioning to the rear of the fleet formation.
Did Casella believe that this might help against a determined enemy?
No.
Could she come up with a better response?
Unlikely.
Casella had little choice but to resign herself to this inadequate response.
She continued to put her formidable mind and will to work.
What else could she do to mitigate the enemy threat?
"I NEED YOUR HELP." She transmitted to every human under her purview. "I NEED TO BORROW YOUR WISDOM. FEED ME YOUR IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF SAYING ANYTHING STUPID OR REDUNDANT."
Casella may have risen up to become the most intelligent and knowledgeable mech pilot in the Larkinson Clan, but even she knew her limits.
Perhaps some ace commanders might consider the act of asking for help to be an intolerable sign of weakness, but the Saint Commander did not care too much.
From the beginning, Casella invested her strength into empowering others. Her Command Field existed to grant a portion of transcendent might onto ordinary mechs and soldiers.
She would never develop such a rare and special domain if she held little respect and appreciation for the common soldiers under her command.
This was how she was able to rationalize her latest decision. Asking for their input could be considered a clever form of resource utilization.
Her approach immediately paid dividends.
Surprisingly enough, the first approach did not come from a human, but one of the smart AIs residing on the Tortuous Scream!
Sovvy of the SEA SOVEREIGN template transmitted a very rational analysis to the Minerva Mark II.
[The probable accuracy of the superdimensional siege cannon is likely based on the guidance of one or multiple specialized high-ranked deathborn. These officer-level beings possess enough rationality to fulfill specific roles, but may also possess the ability to extract valuable observation data from the dark miasma. According to the framework of energy field warfare, our combined fleet is still maneuvering right in the middle of an enormous hostile energy field. The dark miasma is a hazard to us, but it is completely friendly to the deathborn. It is conceivable that the latter can directly tap into the saturated death energies and effectively obtain very precise targeting data from various clues.]
Casella slightly nodded her head.
The theory lacked support for the time being, but it neatly lined up with the known facts.
Still, discovering a possible problem was just the first step.
What mattered the most was how to counter this devastating threat!
Sweat began to run down her head. Her mind worked at a higher intensity as she tried her best to combine the scattered advice with her own ideas.
Her intuition told her that time was running out faster than she would have liked.
They urgently needed to implement more defensive measures!
The Farseer provided her input on behalf of the RC contingent.
"The previous limitations still apply. The dark miasma is intensively hostile to our manipulation. Ordinary scrying or other information gathering methods are ineffective at this range. I may be able to perceive more details as our ships have entered knife-fighting range with the orbital facilities, but my guidance will be redundant at that time."
That was an expected setback.
"We should take a closer look at the surrounding deathborn." Ves suggested. "If you track their behavior closely, then you should notice that their behavior shifted just before the attack. If they repeat this pattern, then we can use this activity as an indication that our enemies are determined to shred apart our hulls."
Right now, the deathborn that were possibly in the line of fire abruptly began to exhibit similar behavior!
Even if there were differences, the Saint Commander was 90 percent confident that a second strike from another superdimensional siege cannon was imminent!
The First Sword Mark III held her Decapitator in a blocking stance.
At the same time, she had spread out her sword fey in order to form a makeshift shield and sword formation to expand their protection before the Tortuous Scream!